ABOUT ME
I was born in Caracas, Venezuela; my parents were from Aragon, Spain. I was 16 years old when I took my first photography course and since then it has been my greatest passion. It is genetical, an inheritance from my grandfather a photographer in Teruel, Spain, when they used negatives with emulsion on glass plates.
Upon entering university to study engineering, I took my first diving course, around age 19, my parents helped me to buy my first housing a Nikon F2 and a bulb flash (each shot involved a new bulb), later upgraded to a Nikonos III, then the Nikonos V, upgraded to a Nikon F4 in an Aquatica housing and currently work with a Nikon D7000 and Nauticam housing with a pair of Ikelite 200 flash.
I was a chess champion and a ping pong fan in my teens, I have loved nature all my life, became a mountaineer, summited peaks of up to 5,000 m, climbed rock walls; hiked jungles, savannas, tepuis; flew paraglides; did cycling, caving and water skiing.
My love affair with the sea started at a very young age that grew in my twenties as a crew member of a regatta sailboat for 2 years, navigating and becoming more familiar with what life at sea is; diving at every opportunity.
I took the first CEMAS 2 Stars diving course when I was 18, and after several specialization courses, I became a Dive Master PADI. To enhance my knowledge in photography, I took several advanced courses. Some of my photographer work includes portraits, environmental photography, publicity, books, calendars and some other technical work; I won prizes in different competitions of underwater and environmental photography at a national level; made frequent articles about diving in national and international magazines. I gave talks and audiovisuals on the underwater subject in universities and other institutions and I taught courses in underwater photography.
I have dived in the Spanish Mediterranean, the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, some Caribbean islands such as Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Tobago, Saba, St Marten, Roatán, Belize, Los Roques, Aves Island, Tortuga Island, a good part of the Venezuelan coast, my latest adventures have been on the coast of Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.
In Venezuela, whenever I had the chance, I escaped to dive, there are diving sites less than 2 hours away from Caracas, I dived at 3.00 am numerous times, what I consider the best time to do macro.
My best diving experience: the magical encounter with a Manta Ray in Tobago. The most difficult: diving in the Teta lagoon "Nikitao" in the Andes mountain range at about 3,700 meters height with a water temperature of 4 ºC. The most exotic: feeding reef sharks in San Martin. Best dive site: I don't think I've ever had a dive where I didn't see something interesting and wonderful that would make it worth repeating, but if I had to choose one, without underestimating the rest, I could name the island of Saba.
An image speaks more than a thousand words and to describe the beauty of the wonders of the underwater universe, not all the words in the world would suffice.
Upon entering university to study engineering, I took my first diving course, around age 19, my parents helped me to buy my first housing a Nikon F2 and a bulb flash (each shot involved a new bulb), later upgraded to a Nikonos III, then the Nikonos V, upgraded to a Nikon F4 in an Aquatica housing and currently work with a Nikon D7000 and Nauticam housing with a pair of Ikelite 200 flash.
I was a chess champion and a ping pong fan in my teens, I have loved nature all my life, became a mountaineer, summited peaks of up to 5,000 m, climbed rock walls; hiked jungles, savannas, tepuis; flew paraglides; did cycling, caving and water skiing.
My love affair with the sea started at a very young age that grew in my twenties as a crew member of a regatta sailboat for 2 years, navigating and becoming more familiar with what life at sea is; diving at every opportunity.
I took the first CEMAS 2 Stars diving course when I was 18, and after several specialization courses, I became a Dive Master PADI. To enhance my knowledge in photography, I took several advanced courses. Some of my photographer work includes portraits, environmental photography, publicity, books, calendars and some other technical work; I won prizes in different competitions of underwater and environmental photography at a national level; made frequent articles about diving in national and international magazines. I gave talks and audiovisuals on the underwater subject in universities and other institutions and I taught courses in underwater photography.
I have dived in the Spanish Mediterranean, the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, some Caribbean islands such as Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Tobago, Saba, St Marten, Roatán, Belize, Los Roques, Aves Island, Tortuga Island, a good part of the Venezuelan coast, my latest adventures have been on the coast of Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.
In Venezuela, whenever I had the chance, I escaped to dive, there are diving sites less than 2 hours away from Caracas, I dived at 3.00 am numerous times, what I consider the best time to do macro.
My best diving experience: the magical encounter with a Manta Ray in Tobago. The most difficult: diving in the Teta lagoon "Nikitao" in the Andes mountain range at about 3,700 meters height with a water temperature of 4 ºC. The most exotic: feeding reef sharks in San Martin. Best dive site: I don't think I've ever had a dive where I didn't see something interesting and wonderful that would make it worth repeating, but if I had to choose one, without underestimating the rest, I could name the island of Saba.
An image speaks more than a thousand words and to describe the beauty of the wonders of the underwater universe, not all the words in the world would suffice.
